Monday, October 17, 2016

Research Writing Exercise: Mohammed Ali from Desiree

Muhammad Ali: Draft
Evasion

Mohammed
Ali was a famous boxer from Louisville, Kentucky. He is the only fighter to be
named world heavyweight champion three times, and he has a 56-5 record. He was
originally named Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. before he converted to Islam in
1964 and changed his name to Muhammad Ali. During the Vietnam war, Ali was
inducted on April 28, 1967, but he refused. Since he was Islam, he did not
believe in violence. Ali was convicted of draft evasion. When he refused to be
inducted into the army, he was immediately stripped of his heavy weight title.
He said “I ain’t got no quarrel with those Vietcong” and he asked “Why should they ask me to put on a uniform
and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in
Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs
and denied simple human rights?"Ali was prohibited to box for
three years. He was also fined $10,000 and he was sentenced to jail for five
years. He avoided prison, and he was able to return to the ring when he fought
Jerry Quarry on October 26, 1970. In March of 1971, Ali fought Joe Frazier and
lost after fifteen rounds. This was Ali’s first loss of his professional
career. This fight was known as “The Fight of the Century”. In June of that
same year, Ali’s case was overturned. Ali had to make three separate appeals
for them to change his draft status. He believed that he should not be
penalized because of his non-violent Islamic faith and his membership of the
Nation of Islam.

I agree with Dathon, it is ironic that he is non-violent but is a boxer. This is a crazy story that I really didn't know about Ali. I wonder if he would have won his case if he wasn't Mohammed Ali and just a normal person? Maybe his name helped him get out of his service.